‘I’ve never once behaved in a nepotistic way’

The Independent’s entertainment newsletter [SUBSCRIBE]( [SUBSCRIBE]( March 18, 2023 [View in browser](   Was Hugh Grant rude, or [was he just being British](? That somehow ended up being the main talking point of this year’s Oscars, after the Four Weddings star gave some rather brusque replies to a red carpet interview. (It could have just been jetlag.) This year’s ceremony was otherwise very much free of the drama of the infamous 2022 slapgate. After Everything Everywhere All At Once[swept the board](, Clarisse Loughrey applauded a [wholesome evening in which many of the victories](, from Michelle Yeoh to Brendan Fraser, were hard-fought. I have been thinking all week about the final episode of The Last of Us. Um… moral conundrum much? No spoilers here, but Pedro Pascal really needs to chat to someone after what he did. Shame he lives in a apocalyptic hellscape where you cannot move around freely. (Partly out of fear of running into Pedro Pascal.) In his review, [Nick Hilton noted that the finale may have been a bit blood-spattered for some](, while Louis Chilton wondered if the second series might be [a disaster waiting to happen](. Ashley Graham interviews Hugh Grant on the Oscars red carpet (ABC) Elsewhere this week, Louis [spoke to director Richard Eyre]( about bringing Allelujah!, Alan Bennett’s play set on a geriatric ward, to the screen. "The NHS is clearly underfunded. It’s clearly overstretched. And it’s not an isolated problem. You can’t sort out the NHS without sorting care of the elderly, social care – they can’t be separated," [he said](. Isobel Lewis checked out the new immersive production of Guys and Dolls at the Bridge Theatre (where Allelujah! was in fact first staged) and [highly recommends it](. The Peckham-set movie Rye Lane, out in cinemas this week, suggests we can [finally stop ringing the death knell for the romcom](. And… [Ted Lasso is back](! I can’t wait to catch up with (growly voice) ROY KENT. Jessie [@jessiecath](   What to do this weekend Exhibition | [Souls Grown Deep Like the Rivers: Black Artists from the American South](//link.e.independent.co.uk/click/30878388.28353/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuaW5kZXBlbmRlbnQuY28udWsvYXJ0cy1lbnRlcnRhaW5tZW50L3RoZWF0cmUtZGFuY2UvZmVhdHVyZXMvY3JlZWQtMy13b21hbi1pbi1ibGFjay1iMjI5MjkxMi5odG1s/583d2887487ccd777a8b7489B590ae059 The harsh history of the Black American South is exuberantly upended in the works of untrained artists working with found materials – clay, driftwood, roots, soil – from the mid-20th century to now. The starkly abstract and highly sophisticated patterns of Alabama’s Gee’s Bend quilters stand out in this [show at the Royal Academy](. Mark Hudson | Chief Art Critic   Theatre | [Guys and Dolls]( It would not be rocking the boat to say that Nicholas Hytner’s immersive production of Guys and Dolls at the Bridge is very, very good. [The production opened this week](to perhaps the best reviews yet at this young theatre, which only opened its doors in late 2017. Singled out for praise is the always barnstorming Marisha Wallace who, fresh from nabbing an Olivier nomination for her performance in Oklahoma!, is bringing the house down as Miss Adelaide. Jessie Thompson | Arts Editor [@jessiecath](   Film | [Rye Lane]( When will we stop talking about the “romcom renaissance” and just admit that romcoms are being pumped out with increasing regularity again? Rye Lane at least feels new in many other respects, namely that this is a British romcom with more Black faces in it than in the entirety of the Richard Curtis oeuvre. Vivian Oparah and David Jonsson play newly single twenty-somethings in Peckham, who team up to settle old romantic scores. This is [funny, inventive and timely filmmaking](, meaning something actually set in a contemporary, recognisable Britain. You wish we did more of that. Adam White | Film Editor [@__adamwhite](   TV | [Ted Lasso]( Apple’s relentlessly upbeat football sitcom might have attracted the ire of Aubrey Plaza’s ice queen in season two of The White Lotus, but it’s now back for a third and (probably) final season, and [our critic Amanda Whiting reckons it’s still an absolute worldie](. “What started off as a fish-out-of-water sitcom,” she wrote, “has slyly evolved into something more compelling.” Ellie Harrison | TV Editor [@Ellie_Harrison](   Books | [I'm a Fan by Sheena Patel]( The buzz around Sheena Patel’s debut, now out in paperback, ramped up a notch last week when it was[longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction](. It follows one woman’s obsession with her married boyfriend, and one of the many other women he is sleeping with. Fiction about unequal relationships has almost become a cliché since #MeToo and Cat Person, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a weirder, more compelling depiction of one this year. Jessie Thompson | Arts Editor [@jessiecath](     [The Saturday Interview – Ciarán Hinds]( [Oscars image]( Ciarán Hinds stars in 'The Dry' on ITVX (Rory Lewis) This week, stage and screen titan [Ciarán Hinds talks to Jasper Rees about starring alongside his wife in ITVX drama](, The Dry. Get this, the couple worked with an intimacy coordinator to film the show's sex scenes – the same intimacy coordinator, it turned out, that had worked with his daughter Aoife on Normal People. He spoke about Irish politics, his stance on nepotism, and why he hesitated to star in Game of Thrones. Hinds in 'The Dry' (Element Pictures/Screen Ireland/ITV) Read an extract from our Saturday Interview below… In recent years, opportunities to work in Ireland have bloomed. Obviously, there was Game of Thrones, which Hinds was in two minds about joining to play the “King Beyond the Wall” Mance Rayder from the third season to the fifth. “I was rather put off by the amount of sexuality that was going on in it, because it was taking away from the actual political storytelling,” he says. “But that’s business, I guess, from their perspective.” Does he have a theory about the growth of the Irish industry, reflected in so many nominations at this year’s Academy Awards? “It’s about support over a period of time. The back-up wasn’t there in the 1980s, Ireland was still very poor, but since the late Nineties something started happening, and bit by bit they started getting organised. Then a generation of younger artists realised they want to offer something back to the culture they come from.” [Read the full interview here](   Weekend Shelf-Care Weekend Shelf-Care Alice Vincent I'm going to stop saying that finally the weather is nice enough to start gardening, because the other day I – a rookie gardener – planted some pots and it almost immediately started snowing. Now all I can do is pray for them. In the meantime, and until the weather finally calms down, we can all get ready for spring by reading the marvellous Alice Vincent's latest book, all about what inspires women to turn to the soil. (For a taster, [read this wonderful extract](on Vanessa Bell and the gardens at Charleston House.) A book I recently read and loved is… Patricia Lockwood's Priestdaddy. I'm about a hundred years late to the party, I realise, but I have a habit of getting into things after the hype has died down. The whole thing is absurd and poignant, and written with such effortless poise that if it didn't make me laugh so much I'd be spitting with envy. My three fantasy literary dinner party guests would be… I suspect Joan Didion would have been fun. I can't work out whether adding Eve Babitz, ideally in the 1970s, into the mix would be spicy or sensational but I'd be keen to witness it. And I'd throw in Zadie Smith, too, on the hope that she'd sing us a song after dinner. Not finishing books: my stance is… Life is too short to plough on with something that makes you miserable. My writing routine is… Not as disciplined as I like, and always sandwiched between all other bits of life. I tend to think for a long time, not getting much down, and then have very short periods of writing a lot, quite frenetically, which I'll often forget in the aftermath. I honestly don't even remember how or when I wrote Why Women Grow, but evidence would attest I did. 'Why Women Grow' is out now, published by Canongate   Enjoying this newsletter? Unlock unlimited, ad-free reading on the website and in The Independent app when you subscribe – plus, benefit from our [welcome offer when you join today](.   [INDYBEST]( / [BEST BUYS]( [Best experience days, from wine tasting to afternooon tea]( Swap [flowers]( and [hampers]( this [Mother's Day]( with a special [day out](. [Book now]( Trending: [Birkenstock Boston clog high-street dupes start from just £25](       OTHER NEWSLETTERS YOU MIGHT LIKE [Climate News]( Climate News Weekly Written by Louise Boyle [Join now]( [Simon Calder's Travel Week]( Simon Calder’s Travel Week Twice a week Written by Simon Calder [Join now]( [Climate News] Climate News Weekly Written by Louise Boyle [Join now]( [Simon Calder's Travel Week] Simon Calder's Travel Week Twice a week Written by Simon Calder [Join now]( If you can spare a minute we’d love your [feedback]( on our newsletters. 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